February 13th, 1986 found me standing bedazzled, up to my elbows in flowers, in the beautiful old Eliza Doolittle Flower Shop on Queen Street East.

I had wandered, shell shocked, into floristry, when my marriage crashed and burned, and the irony that my very first day on the job was all about celebrating love was not lost on me.

24 hours later, amidst the petals that were all that remained of hundreds of fragrant and colourful blooms, I realized I had found love again.

No, it was not just the flowers, beautiful though they were, what had truly captured my heart was the joy of being of service, creating something exquisite to express love and caring.That’s what we florists do, you see, we translate feelings into flowers. Whether it’s joy or sadness, love or loss, regret or celebration, welcome or farewell – our job is to bear witness to lives unfolding.

This year, Valentine’s Day comes just before Family Day – a much needed long weekend in the middle of a winter that really has had teeth.

We all are a little battle-scarred and struggling to be the best versions of ourselves, therefore I think that a day to celebrate love to launch a weekend to celebrate family, is a heck of a good way to kick misery to the curb.

So celebrate in earnest the love you have in your life and the family that surrounds you – whether that love is a hot romance, steady burning flame or just the love of dear, dear friends.

Whether you go home to a spouse and kids, a devoted roommate or, like me, a dog and a cat – be grateful for whatever love and family you have.

Shout it outSing a songDo a danceWrite a poemand… if you do want to say it with flowers, I would be delighted to be of service!

You may have thought that the bloggers of East of Eliza world had packed their trunks and left for the outer reaches of this wonderful planet, never to tickle keyboard again. Fear not, we are all here, admittedly somewhat distracted by all manner of jobs requiring our attention. We have been scurrying about unpacking, stocking, building, fixing, organizing, and as always, creating in order to make this festive season at the shop as lovely as ever.

As is the tendency at this time of year, Chaos has been making frequent visits, arriving unannounced with a far larger suitcase than we had hoped for, and staying a little longer than we had intended. But, faint hearted we are not. We have negotiated the storm in with outlandish and ardent hope that all will be well. With the help of a few bungee cords, some very strange outfits, an unfailing spirit of adventure, and just a bit of duck tape, all is as it should be. Indeed, in a parallel universe, they will sing songs of our inventive ways and audacious attitudes. Well, perhaps not, but we think they should. At the center of it all, our Fearless Leader reed, has turned herself inside out, sideways and back again to make sure everything is as beautiful as our customers have come to expect. Here are some examples of what we have been up to:

For all our customers who have us wrestle their urns into seasonal loveliness, we are running a week behind. Do not dismay, for we are feverishly working all hours available to us to catch up.

We could give you a list of reasons for our tardiness, which might include such things as;

a broken down van

not enough staff

China’s off her food

falling into a wormhole in which the compass only ever pointed East whilst gathering Juniper

BUT

why bore you with such trivia when we think the most important, the most delicious and the most unequivocally beautiful reason is this..

Meet Arlo Jack Russell Zaidlin, Reed’s grandson, four days old and just perfect.

We will be having our usual OPEN HOUSE this weekend, Saturday,30th November and Sunday, 1st December. There is all manner of winter greens, berries, sparkly treats, wreaths etc in the back yard, as well as mixed arrangements, Amaryllis, Ilex berries, to name just a few of the goodies in the store. Warm cider will be served, along with some nibbles for sustenance. We are especially pleased to announce that Nicola will be making guest appearance and helping us in the store on Saturday. It will be very lovely to have her back with us for the day.

And so, brimming with happy thoughts of Arlo Jack, seasonal jollies and only slightly barmy.

til the next time which knowing us, faithful readers, might be valentines day,

The other night…your May 24th into May 25th…there was a frost-warning. Which meant that many of the more sensitive growing things were at risk. We were worried, because of course, each and every one of them are our friends. We would not be who we are were it not for them. We are always saddened when one of our guests expires. So the idea of so many of our green friends being at risk was causing duress amongst it. You see, we’re not able to do anything about the circumstances and conditions of The Secret Garden. We live here, it’s our home…but we’re not the caregivers. Lovely humans are. Led by, of course, by Reed and her band of noble helpers.

That snapshot above? That was taken of her the following morning after most of The Secret Garden had been carefully ‘wrapped’ in tarpaulins, with fiery heaters then ignited under them. Enclosing everything was a monumental task, even for them. But they did it. Thanks to some help from friends and a lot of meticulous work, The Secret Garden was protected.

This is where The Guardian slept

The roaring furnaces that made possible the protection of our green friends could not be left alone. It was necessary for someone to remain in The Secret Garden overnight. Fortunately, The Guardian remained at his post all through the night. As he protected the growing things, so we protected him and his gregarious companion Brogan. (Some insistent raccoons discovered how strong the bonds are between Faeries and Those Who Tend The Secret Garden; they’re rambunctious critters, but we have our ways with them.) Above you can see where he slumbered while all around him, heat moved in its own dance, according to its own music.

Just as our human friends love The Secret Garden (clearly as much as we do), we love our human friends. Please take a look at the snapshot album below to see all the devoted effort they went to to protect all our growing things: